International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) announced
several initiatives today to help Singapore companies in technology, innovation
and services capture opportunities in China’s Sichuan province.

Sichuan is pushing for innovation reform through the Sichuan
Free Trade Zone (FTZ), launched in April 2017 and Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech
Innovation Park (SSCIP). In 2016, Sichuan’s GDP grew 7.7% to reach S$660
billion, above the national GDP growth of 6.7%. The Sichuan government is
promoting innovation by focusing on building new test-bedding platforms,
strengthening collaborations between industries and institutes of higher
learning, and encouraging technology developments in electronics, automotive
and new energy. Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, is also among the
top 10 most start-up friendly cities in China.

In 2016, Singapore-Sichuan bilateral trade reached around
S$1.1 billion. From January to September 2017, bilateral trade increased 27% to
reach S$918.4 million. In 2016, Singapore was the top foreign investor country
in Sichuan. Last year, Singapore’s actual investment in Sichuan reached around
S$530.4 million, bringing total cumulative actual investments to around S$8.1
billion with 562 projects, the largest among provinces in West China.

Seven Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed today with
Sichuan counterparts at the 18th Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment
Committee (SSTIC [1]) meeting, co-chaired by Minister for Education (Schools)
and Second Minister for Transport, Mr. Ng Chee Meng, and Sichuan Vice-Governor Mr.
Zhu Hexin in Singapore. Organised by IE Singapore, the Singapore secretariat
for the Council, over 120 government and business representatives from
Singapore and Sichuan attended the meeting. Sichuan Vice-Governor Zhu is
currently in Singapore on a business mission with 32 officials and businessmen
from the region.

These MOUs include one between IE Singapore and the Sichuan
Provincial Department of Commerce, forming direct access to the government to
help Singapore companies access opportunities in the FTZ. IE Singapore and
Sichuan officials will also form a workgroup to facilitate partnerships. This
is the first FTZ in China where IE Singapore has developed both
provincial-level and city-level networks to ease the entry of Singapore companies
into the province.

Another key project in the FTZ is SSCIP, led bySembcorp Development. To date, it has
secured 29 projects, with total investments of about S$5.2 billion. To drive
more partnerships in technology and innovation, IE Singapore signed a MOU with
SSCIP, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone and Millet World [2] to develop the SSCIP-Singapore
Innovation Centre to encourage collaboration between Singapore and Chinese
companies, including leveraging Sichuan as a testbed for new innovations for
China and the rest of the world.

The press release lists the SMEs currently entering the
province.

One of the SMEs, Metaverse Systems will gain access to China’s
edutainment market through an MOU with SSCIP to establish Future@Work, a
first-of-its-kind integrated technology showcase centre and children theme
park. Future@Work will combine virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics and
futuristic imagination, and is targeted at children aged 3 to 15 years old.

Gashub, a gas piping and engineering services specialist in
Singapore, signed a MOU with Chengdu Huaqi Houpu Holding to collaborate on
technology and knowledge transfer. Chengdu Huaqi Houpu is China’s leading
provider of integrated clean energy solutions, and will partner Gashub to
acquire new technologies and export to other markets.

Parkway
Pantai, one of Asia’s largest integrated
private healthcare groups, and SSCIP signed an MOU to explore developing a
high-end women and children’s hospital in SSCIP.

Dreamkids Holdings signed a MOU with Sichuan Guan He Tai
Education Technology to build a preschool in Sichuan, offering premium
education services for children aged 6 months to 6 years old. This is the first
Singapore company to customise learning programmes in Sichuan using 3D
brainwaves. Dreamkids Holdings is described as an unconventional, happy
bilingual preschool with a strong emphasis on building the human spirit and
values, as well as equipping the essential 21st century skills in children.

In conjunction with the 18th SSTIC meeting, IE Singapore and
the Chengdu government also organised a Sichuan (Chengdu) FTZ seminar to help
Singapore companies understand the opportunities brought by the Sichuan FTZ, as
well as the SSCIP, which is located within the FTZ.

Minister Ng said, “Singapore continues to be the top foreign
investor country in Sichuan. We hope to deepen our collaboration with Sichuan
in technology, innovation and services through the Sichuan Free Trade Zone and
Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park (SSCIP). One such initiative is the
SSCIP-Singapore Innovation Centre, which will serve as a platform to
demonstrate new technologies and innovations for in-market adoption. The new
policies in the Sichuan Free Trade Zone also create opportunities for our
companies in healthcare, education and financial services.”

In other recent developments, Startup HQ, which opened their
incubation centre in Chengdu last year, has brought in 40 technology start-ups
to date. IE Singapore also led eight Singapore companies to the fifth China
(Mianyang) Hi-Tech Expo in September 2017, the largest technology trade show in
West China.

IE Singapore is involved in several initiatives to help
local companies gain access to Chinese markets, as well as technology. In
August 21 2017, IE Singapore and Ascendas-Singbridge launched the
Singapore Manufacturing Innovation Centre (SMIC) in Guangzhou, a one-stop shop
to facilitate partnerships between Singapore Industry 4.0 technology solutions
providers and Chinese enterprises looking to adopt such solutions. In
October, IE Singapore signed
two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Chinese tech partners to
help more Singapore companies gain access to the market and its innovation
ecosystem. On November 2, 2017, IE Singapore announced the
successful facilitation of a partnership between Surbana Jurong (SJ) and two SMEs, iFocus Pte.
Ltd. (a hardware company) and S3 Innovate Pte. Ltd. (a data visualisation
company) to clinch their first lift monitoring project in Guangzhou city.

[1] The
Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee (SSTIC) is a bilateral
economic framework aimed at strengthening Singapore's economic relations with
the Sichuan Province. It was formed in May 1996 and comprises public and
private sector members from Singapore and Sichuan. Mr. Lim Swee Say, Minister,
Ministry of Manpower, and Mr. Yin Li, Sichuan Governor, are Advisors to the
committee while Minister Ng Chee Meng, Minister for Education (Schools) and
Second Minister for Transport, and Mr. Zhu Hexin, Sichuan Vice-Governor, are
CoChairmen of the SSTIC. IE Singapore is the Secretariat to the SSTIC in
Singapore.

[2] Millet World specialises in creative place and space management and developing platforms for the
promotion of geographical expansion and growth of Singapore SMEs through the Millet World Trading
Post.

Priyankar was part of the OpenGov editorial team for several years. An engineer and MBA by education, he has prior experience in investment banking, media and tech startups. He spends his spare time reading and rambling.

Connect with us

Newsletter

OpenGov releases new digital content daily on trending topics within technology and the public sector. Join our newsletter to have weekly digests of our content conveniently sent to your email address.

OpenGov Asia

About Us

OpenGov is a content platform, dedicated to sharing ICT-related knowledge and information between governments. We focus on the public sector in the Asia-Pacific region. We help governments become more Efficient, Agile, Transparent and Secure, so as to improve the lives of their citizens.